Scare Me, Miss Lynskey

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I'm not name-dropping here - although I guess I'm not not name-dropping either - but after a screening of Heavenly Creatures here in NYC a couple of months ago that she was in attendance for I got to hang out for a little bit with The Marvelous Melanie Lynskey (she really oughta change her name to The Marvelous Melanie Lynskey, the whole thing, like she's a magician from the 1920s, because she is). It was very exciting! 

But that's not my point. See, because I'd just watched Heavenly Creatures I realized at that moment that I was missing Scary Melanie Lynskey - besides establishing herself as a great talent Melanie's also established herself as a beacon of sweetness in a cold hard world; she just radiates so much warmth and kindness when you watch her on screen. (And in person too, y'all.) That's not to say she's only been showing off that stuff - on Togetherness, for example, she got to show off all kinds of humanity, of the ugly and mean kind too. But I was introduced to her via Heavenly's mad romantic murderess, and I hadn't seen her play those notes in awhile. 

So I said to her she that should make something where she scares me again. She nodded at the time, but now I figure she was probably thinking inside "JUST WAIT!!!" Because here we are and within the space of two weeks I've found out she's made a super violent thriller with Elijah Wood that's playing at Sundance AND now I realize she's in XX, the all-female-directed horror-anthology that's out soon!

Melanie stars in the quarter that Annie Clark (aka the rock goddess St Vincent) directed; the other three come from Roxanne Benjamin, Jovanka Vuckovic, and Karyn Kusama (of fuck yeah The Invitation and Jennifer's Body fame). And I only realized this because XX just got a trailer, featuring prominent Lynskey placement, and now I've got to go scour her list of future IMDb credits lest I make any more of an ass out of myself.

XX is out in theaters and on demand 

on February 17th -- now watch the trailer!

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The four short films also star Sheila Vand (aka the Girl Who Walks Home Alone At Night) and  Nathalie Brown (aka Corey Stoll's vampire wife on The Strain) and Mike Doyle (aka Mr. Andrew Rannells) (okay he was one of the gays in The Invitation too) and Angela Trimbur (who was so so funny as the slutty girl in Final Girls) and Breeda Wool (the lesbian contestant from UnREAL!!) plus a bunch more familiar great faces. Cannot wait.

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